A Fox in Hiding
by SimonRiley
Summary: Naruto just wanted to find an out of the way place to stay undercover - a place where nothing ever happens. Kamakura seemed like a good choice, after all, nothing exciting ever happens in Kamakura.
1. Chapter 1

Kouta had never liked trains. He had never liked transport in general to be honest; there was just something about not having his own two feet on the solid ground beneath him that unnerved him. Needless to say, he hadn't gotten much shut-eye on his long day of train riding. He stifled another yawn as the train began to rumble along the tracks. He'd just made his last transfer in Tokyo, and now it was a mere 50 kilometers to Kamakura. He'd meet up with his cousin, she'd show him to his new place, and he could finally get some sleep.

He cracked an eye open as a stranger opened the door to his empty compartment. It was some blond kid - probably younger than he was - but he looked Japanese. That was interesting; blond was extremely rare among Asians in general. He had some strange scars on his face too – or maybe they were birthmarks? Kouta decided not to comment. He probably got bothered about them enough, given how prominent they were on his face.

"Mind if I sit here?" the boy asked politely. Kouta gave a quick "hmm" of assent. The blond sat down, closed his eyes, and was snoring in seconds. "Wish I could do that," Kouta thought jealously. He spent the next twenty-five minutes watching the scenery go by through half-lidded eyes.

The train eventually began its slow screech to a stop. "Kamakura at last," Kouta thought in relief as he stood up and stretched. He reached over to gently shake his compartment-mate awake, but the boy's hand snapped out and caught his wrist before it could make contact. Kouta yelped and tried to jump backwards, but the grip on his wrist was too strong and he only ended up falling on his ass. Next thing he knew, the kid was helping him stand back up, apologizing profusely.

"I'm so sorry! I'm a very light sleeper, and I tend to react strongly when someone tries to wake me up. I've whacked more than my fair share of alarm clocks too." He stared awkwardly at Kouta for a moment. Kouta blinked.

" Again, I'm really sorry, I should have warned you before I went to sleep."

The boy took a step back and began rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Kouta looked bewildered for a moment, but soon regained his bearings.

"It's alright, no harm done."

Crickets chirped for a moment as they looked awkwardly at each other. Kouta abruptly stuck out his hand, blurting, "I'm Kouta, by the way." The boy grinned and gave it a firm shake.

"Lee Shengshun." he returned. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Kouta said as they began to make their way toward the door. "So what brings you to Kamakura?"

"Oh, I'm here for school," Lee explained. "Some family owns this old building; used to be a restaurant in fact. They were offering to let me stay for super cheap; so I took it. I'll have a roommate, but with a place that big it shouldn't be a problem."

Kouta's eyes widened. "You're moving into Kaede House? So am I! I'm your roommate."

It could have been a trick of the light, but for a split second Lee's eyes were cold as steel, scanning him up and down. Then it was gone, and Lee was all smiles.

"Really? What a coincidence. Maybe we could find the place together?" Lee suggested. Kouta took a second to collect himself.

"Actually, I'm meeting my cousin here at the station," he explained. "It's her family that owns the place, and she was going to show me how to get there. You're more than welcome to come with us."

Lee offered him a friendly smile. "Sure! I'd love to tag along."

They stepped out of the train and onto the platform. Kouta took a brief look around as their fellow train-goers dispersed.

"Huh. I don't see her here. I guess we just have to wait; I don't even have a map, and It's been almost nine years since I was here last."

* * *

Naruto mentally sighed. Why were all civilians so bad about punctuality? Ah well. At least his roommate seemed to be the best possible sort he could've been saddled with. He was mild-mannered, he didn't seem to be nosy, and he didn't strike Naruto as the sort who'd spread gossip.

"Oh, good," he thought as a young woman approached. "We can finally get on with this." He wanted to scope the place and set up his perimeter seals as soon as possible.

"Kouta?" The young woman inquired.

"Yuka? Is that you?" answered a wide-eyed Kouta. Rather than reply, Yuka enveloped him in a big hug. After a few moments had passed she stood back to see his face.

"Kouta it really is you! It's so good to see you!"

Naruto repressed a sigh as they began to yammer. These were good people; they didn't understand his urgency, and they didn't deserve his ire. Still, the longer he stayed in a public place the greater the risk, so in the interest of moving things along...

"Hi. I'm Lee," he interrupted. "Kouta and I met on the train – I'm his new roommate."

Yuka gave him a once-over. "Really? Wow, what a coincidence! I can show you both to the house."

* * *

"This place is perfect," Naruto thought as they entered the building. It was out of the way, it had few windows, and the ones it did have only opened to the yard, which was surrounded by a wall. He'd have no trouble laying low here. As Yuka gave them the tour, he mentally picked out which room he'd sleep in – second floor southeast corner. If enemies showed up he could be out the window, over the wall, and into the night in a flash.

Naruto chuckled to himself as Kouta griped about having to clean the place. They were such innocent kids; being among civilians was always amusingly surreal to him.

"Well I guess I'll leave you two to unpacking then," Yuka finished. She opened the door and stepped out, but paused for a moment and added, "Unless... well... you want any help?" she offered meekly.

"That's all right, I've just got the one suitcase," Kouta declined.

"Yeah, I've got even less than Kouta," Naruto replied while patting his backpack. "Thanks for the offer though," he finished with a smile.

"Oh... well okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," she replied a little dejectedly as she slid the door shut behind her.

* * *

Twelve Narutos stood around the wall, the brushes they held making smooth, silent strokes across the white surface. As time passed, the wall came to look more like a work of art than a construct of plaster; the squiggly lines appearing chaotically beautiful. Soon, all but one of the Narutos vanished, small wisps of smoke the only thing to show they ever existed.

Naruto took to the roof in a single leap, and promptly made a half-ram sign. The whole area glowed blue for a moment as the writing on the wall lit up, and then went dark. The lines slowly faded out of the visible spectrum. Naruto "hmm"ed in satisfaction. He was now officially living in the ass-end of nowhere. All that was left was to secure a secondary safehouse – it'd be easy enough to dig a hole under a rock somewhere. As he let out a yawn he decided that task could wait until tomorrow.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the slow-paced intro. Expect more plot development from here on out.

To anyone who noticed; yes. Naruto's cover name is a shout-out to Darker than Black, another most excellent anime. To anyone who this concerns, rest assured this isn't a triple cross-over. Darker than Black will have nothing more to do with this story.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto hummed to himself as he tweaked his excavation seal. He'd found a decent spot in the woods, a few kilos back from Kaede House. He'd hollow out the dead tree on his right and use it as the entrance. Taking several steps back, he made a half-ram sign. Instantly 140 cubic meters of dirt were sucked into the paper, and he was staring a good size hole: 4 meters deep, 4 wide, and 10 long. His clones jumped down into the hole and immediately began to plaster the walls and set up beams to support the roof. By the time they were done, no one would even be able to tell anyone had been here. Someone would have to dig down at least a meter before they'd even hit the roof, and the tree-trunk would appear solid to the naked eye. Once he applied his suppression seals, it wouldn't matter if the best sensor in the world was standing over his head; no ninja would be able to find him here.

An hour later Naruto was standing back and admiring his handiwork when he suddenly stood ramrod straight. A powerful chakra signature had just crossed his perimeter seals at Kaede house, along with the signatures he already recognized as Kouta and Yuka.

"Motherfucker!" he cursed aloud. Couldn't he go a day without running into trouble? Carefully suppressing his chakra, he sprinted back to Kaede House in less than a minute.

He entered silently through a second story window. By now he could feel the signature on his own; whoever it was was making no effort to suppress it. He could hear Kouta and Yuka talking about something.

"Well maybe we should have called the police," Yuka was saying.

Naruto heard Kouta sigh. "Maybe so. But we couldn't just leave her there, all... you know... naked. She doesn't seem like she can even speak. Let's just call the police now; they'll understand."

"Wait just a moment," Naruto interjected, making his presence known as he descended the stairs. He quickly took stock of who he was looking at. She had vibrant red hair, and was smiling at him cheerfully and innocently. She looked harmless, actually, but her chakra signature was enormous and chaotic. It reminded him of when he'd first met Gaara, actually. Assuming she wasn't herself an enemy looking for him, she'd definitely alert any enemies looking for him if he didn't get her chakra suppressed.

"Lee?" Kouta said, sounding surprised. "We thought you were still sleeping."

"Who's this?" Naruto asked sharply.

"We don't know," Yuka began to explain. "We found her on the beach. She... she was naked and alone. She doesn't seem to understand Japanese, and she hasn't really talked at all. I think she might have some sort of brain damage."

Naruto cautiously approached her with narrowed eyes. She took a few shy steps back in return, but her back hit the wall behind her.

"You're scaring her!" Yuka protested, but Naruto ignored her. He walked up to the girl and tentatively placed a hand at the base of one of the horns on the girl's head. After confirming it was real, he looked her in the eye. It was true, nothing but innocence there. His brow furrowed.

"What are you?" he murmured, more to himself than to anyone else. Abruptly he turned to Yuka and Kouta. "I need to get her out of the open; her chakra is like a fucking pillar of brilliant light. No shinobi could miss it. Come with me."

"Shin-what-now?" Kouta asked.

"Chakra?" Yuka interjected sounding confused.

"No time to explain. This girl is in danger," that was a lie as far as he knew, but he hoped it would get them moving. "I'm taking you to my safehouse, it has suppression seals on it that will keep this girl from being found. I'll answer your questions there."

Before they could say anything, he pulled a suppression seal from his back pocket and placed it on the girl's stomach. Kouta and Yuka gasped as it glowed blue. "Actually it's more likely I'll just erase your memories and send you back here," Naruto added to himself.

He quickly opened the front door, scooped the red-headed girl up in a bridal carry, and gave a terse, "Keep up," before jogging into the woods at a pace he figured they'd be able to keep up with. Kouta and Yuka shared a look before following after him.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Naruto arrived at his fresh safehouse. He hadn't had the chance to wrap up, so it was pretty barebones inside, but the suppression seals were up, and would do a much better job than the one he'd put on the girl's stomach. The girl in his arms had quickly forgotten she was scared of him, and had been delighted by the passing scenery in the woods the whole way. Kouta and Yuka on the other hand, were red-faced and panting.

"Are you human?" Kouta asked jokingly, referring to how he'd carried the girl the whole way and didn't even seem winded. His smile vanished and the color drained from his face when Naruto answered with a quick and deadly serious, "No."

Setting the girl on her feet, Naruto pressed his hand against a tree-trunk. The bark faded into non-existence, revealing a ladder.

"Down. Now." Naruto commanded the two wide eyed teens, pointing at it. When they hesitated, he growled at them, revealing his elongated canines and flashing them red-slitted eyes. They quickly scrambled down. Naruto picked up the girl, who seemed to remember she was frightened, and slid down the ladder, gripping it with one arm and the girl with the other. The tree-trunk phased back into existence above him.

Guiding the girl by the shoulder into the newly completed room, illuminated by a few bulbs in the corners, he spoke to the now-scared Kouta and Yuka.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. I really don't mean you any harm," he explained in his friendliest voice. They seemed to relax just a little bit. "I had to get us somewhere safe though, and the only way to get you to move was to be forceful."

There wasn't much in the room yet: it had a chair and desk in one corner, a bed across from it, a medical station in the third corner, and the last corner held the ladder.

"Ah, the glories of fuuinjutsu," Naruto thought to himself. "Only Jiraiya could construct such a functional safehouse as quick as this."

Kouta cleared his throat. "Uh, Lee? So, could you... you know... explain what's going on?" he asked in a small, shaky voice.

Naruto sighed. "I don't even know where to begin. For now, just know that I'm not human – well, not completely human anyway, and this girl isn't either. There's this sort of energy that my kind can sense, and she's radiating vast amounts of it. No one of my kind could miss her. I was supposed to begin living undercover with you guys, but I can't with her around. I brought her here," - he gestured to the girl who was now bouncing on the bed - "because I can ward certain areas to prevent that energy from being sensed, like I've done to this room. Just in case you doubt my claims..."

His eyes turned red and slitted, his whisker-marks grew darker and more pronounced, his canines began poking out from his mouth, and he raised his hands to show the claws growing there. Then just like that, he was back to normal.

He sat in the chair and leaned back, closing his eyes. "I suppose we can do a little Q&A now."

So many questions poured through the teens' minds. It took a minute for them to process what they'd seen and heard. Yuka found her voice first.

"Why... why were you supposed to go undercover with us?"

"I'm hiding from very powerful people who want to kill me."

There was a moment of silence before Kouta asked, "What exactly are you?"

"I was born a pure human. Minutes after my birth I became a jinchurriki. When I was five I became a hanyou."

"What are those?" he followed up.

"Simply put, a Jinchurriki is a human who has a demon sealed away inside of him. A hanyou is a half-human half-demon."

The teens' eyes widened... again.

"You're a half-demon?" Yuka gasped out. All of a sudden they looked frightened again.

"Please don't assume that means I'm some kind of soul-stealing monster." Naruto snapped with irritation. " All my best friends are human, I was raised human, and I like humans just fine. I've never eaten anyone's soul either. In fact, the whole reason I'm in hiding is to protect humans. If the people who are after me got their hands on me, they'd use the power inside me to kill lots and lots of humans."

They seemed to calm down.

"So, what is the girl?" Kouta asked. Naruto shrugged.

"I dunno. Once we're done speaking that's what I'm gonna try to figure out."

A period of silence followed.

"What does all this mean for us?" Kouta asked, gesturing to himself and his cousin.

Naruto suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to put on sunglasses and pull out a red pill and a blue pill.

"You guys have a choice. I can erase your memories and you can continue to live with Lee Shengshun the student. You'll forget you ever met this girl or learned that demons exist. You'll get on with your lives exactly as they were a few hours ago. Or, you can live with Naruto Uzumaki the hanyou instead. You'll still get on with your lives, but you'll know the truth. If you take this option I can't promise you'll be kept out of any trouble that comes looking for me. Either way, I'll expect no help from either of you. You can live the lives of ordinary students, and I'll simply vanish when the people chasing me catch up. All I'll ask of you is you keep your mouths shut about my existence."

Humans are naturally curious creatures. When given the option, they'll usually choose to know more, even if the knowledge is dangerous.

"Okay," Kouta said determinedly. "I... I don't want to forget. I'll keep your secret." He looked at Yuka. "What about you?"

Yuka seemed to take longer to make up her mind. "I... Yes. I want to remember too."

"In that case," Naruto said as he stood up, "I place you both under my protection. As long as I breathe, so shall you, my friends."

He gave them a short, shallow bow. They blinked owlishly. Crickets chirped.

"Uh, thank you," Kouta said. "You, uh, you said your real name was Naruto, right?"

Naruto smiled. "That it is, but it's best if you stay in the habit of calling me Lee."

A new Naruto popped into existence. Kouta and Yuka shrieked and fell on their asses. The red-head girl – who had fallen asleep on the bed – sat up sharply making a noise of surprise. Naruto quickly explained.

"I'm going to send a clone back to Kaede House to make sure it's all clear before I send you guys back."

They just nodded numbly as the clone scrambled up the ladder.

"In the meantime," Naruto continued as he produced ink, brush, and paper, "I'm going to try and figure out what exactly this girl is."


	3. Chapter 3

"Who needs a Yamanaka when you've got an Uzumaki!" Naruto proclaimed triumphantly as he finished up his last few brush-strokes.

"Um, what?" Kouta asked.

"A clan of mind-walkers," Naruto succinctly explained. "They can use their powers to enter the minds of others to extract information they might otherwise not want to share."

"Oh." Kouta said dumbly. "Are they hanyou too?"

"No, they're human." Naruto said as he sat next to the horned girl, who was still sitting up on the bed. "I'm using fuuinjutsu to create a similar effect. It seems to me that this girl's mind is buried – probably due to her head trauma. I'm going to bring it back to the surface."

"Fuuinjutsu?" Yuka inquired.

"Long story," Naruto replied. "But I can do lots of things by directing my chakra through special patterns of ink. That's the gist of it anyway."

"Chakra?" Kouta inquired.

"Basically its life-energy. Talented humans can control it, and use it to perform what you'd probably consider to be magic; like those Yamanakas I mentioned."

Naruto carefully placed two slips of paper on each of the girl's temples, and two corresponding pieces on his own temples. He turned to Kouta and Yuka.

"Our minds might be connected for awhile; I don't know how hard it will be to draw out her consciousness. Don't worry, we'll come to eventually."

With that, he took the girl's hands, and made contact with her bright eyes, full of innocence and curiosity. The squiggly lines on the paper glowed blue, and they both fell backward, their eyes closed. Soft blue light seemed to connect their temples.

* * *

Lucy found herself in a dark corridor, lined with endless doors on both sides. It was so long, she couldn't see the end of it in front of her or behind her. She narrowed her eyes. She was aware while her alternate personality was in control, so she knew what was going on. This must be some sort of representation of their minds. But what to do now? It was probably smartest to just wait for the blond to show up. After all, his goal was to help her regain control of her body.

Then... Kouta. He was right there, right in the same room as she was. She would prostrate herself and apologize. Then... then what? For so long her only goal had been to see him again – to say she was sorry. Once that was done, she had no real reason to want to stay alive. Perhaps she'd turn herself back in to Kurama. This time she'd be obedient, and suffer willingly as some small atonement.

Mind made up, she sat down cross-legged and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Huffing in irritation, she stood back up. It felt like she'd been sitting here for an eternity. She'd look for the blond hanyou then. She threw open the door right in front of her, stepped in without looking, and shrieked as she found herself falling out of the sky. After five terrifying seconds, she hit the ground, but somehow it didn't hurt. As she got up, she quickly took stock of herself and her surroundings.

She was standing on a narrow, cobbled street between two buildings. It was dark out; nighttime and overcast - the only light came from what shined through various sets of curtains. Suddenly, a voice screamed in terror. A child's voice. She turned sharply just in time to see a kid race past her, fast as his small legs could carry him. Several dark blurs pursued him.

Lucy blinked, and all of a sudden she was watching from another perspective as the boy tore past her again, making a sharp turn to scramble down an alley. It followed in this vein for the next several minutes: Lucy would watch the blurs, which she soon determined were men, chase the boy through the village she'd found herself in. As soon as they passed her, she found herself just ahead of them with no idea how she'd moved.

Finally, the boy rounded one last corner and yelped as he crashed into a man. Before he could scramble away, the man brought a fist down on the boy's head. The world went dark as the boy lost consciousness.

When the world brightened again Lucy found herself in what she assumed was a warehouse - if the musty scent and stacked crates were anything to go by. She was facing the boy from before, who was lying on top of some pallets. With a start, she realized he was bound. She walked up to him, and noticed the marks on his cheeks.

This was the same blond who was trying to fix her head up, but he was younger.

"Am I... am I witnessing a memory?" she murmured. She extended her hand, and it passed right through the body of the small boy like she wasn't even there.

"Looks like he's coming to," a gruff voice sounded. Sure enough, his small eyes opened as he groaned in pain. They widened in fear as he saw what was behind Lucy. Lucy turned to see... a mob. Not a huge one, but there were more than thirty people gathered in this warehouse.

"Wait! please!" the boy screamed desperately as several of the men approached his small frame. He began to wriggle desperately, but couldn't even make it to the edge of the pallet with his hands and feet bound.

Lucy watched with quivering eyes as they pummeled the child. He was a bloody and broken mess by the time they were through - taking shallow, labored breaths with his limbs bent at odd angles. Then, another man came up, carrying a pungent-smelling jerry can. As the man doused the boy in gasoline, he managed to gurgle out, "Please... why?"

"Justice you little shitstain," the man snapped.

The crowd closed in, ready to watch the main event as the man lit a match.

The boy's eyes widened as he saw the flame, and he began to wriggle desperately, but only managed to worsen his already severe wounds.

"No!" He screamed hoarsely. "Please don't do it!" Lucy saw the pure panic and desperation in his eyes. She saw the utter terror. She knew that look.

"You deserve this." the man's voice was cold as ice as he dropped the match. Instantly the boy began to wail in agony as his flesh blackened and peeled off. Blood ran like water. Lucy could only watch in muted horror. It wasn't the carnage itself that horrified her – she was plenty used to that. It was the boy's eyes. She had those same eyes. They festered with hate fueled by fear.

Her eyes widened when she saw that the boy wasn't dying. New flesh grew back to replace what fell off, and somehow he always had more blood to bleed. He burned and burned and burned, fresh flesh growing back just as fast as the old could blacken. He wailed and screamed in agony without end. Lucy wasn't sure how long she stood there, but it was easily hours.

"God, won't it ever die?!" cried a man in frustration.

Eventually, his screams died down to moans; he didn't have the energy to scream anymore.

"Please... just let me die," she heard his raspy voice croak above the crackle of the flames - flames that were still eating away at his ever-regrowing flesh. The ashes of his body piled up beneath him. She realized silent tears were streaming from her eyes.

"Let me die."

All of a sudden, Lucy was back in the hallway, her hand grasping the handle that had led her into that nightmare. She took a shaky step back, and bumped into a body. Whirling around, she came face-to-face with Naruto.

"I'm very sorry you had to see that," he said solemnly. "I never intended for you to end up here."


	4. Chapter 4

"Was that... a memory?" she asked slowly.

"Yes." He replied without feeling. "I never expected your mental avatar to end up this deep inside my mind. That's never happened before. I'm sorry."

They just stared at each other for a minute.

"What are you," Lucy eventually asked, "that they'd hate you so?"

"Their savior." Naruto replied bitterly. "Now's my turn. Who and what are you?"

"My name is Lucy. I'm a diclonius."

Naruto "hmm"ed. "And what is a diclonius?"

"A mutant. As appearances go, only our horns set us apart from humans – well that and our tendency for brightly pigmented hair and eyes. What really makes us different is our vectors; invisible arms that vibrate at incredibly high frequencies. They can grab or slice anything in their reach." She paused. "Mine are two meters long," she added almost as an afterthought. "Now it's my turn again." It took her a moment to articulate her question.

"You said you were their savior." She said cautiously. "What does that mean?" Naruto answered in monotone.

"It means that when an all-powerful demon attacked their village, my father sacrificed his life to seal it away inside of me. Then, the hypocrites living there decided that I was the demon rather than the demon's jail. Irony of ironies, they decided they'd avenge all the loss of innocent life inflicted upon the village by killing me."

Lucy looked at the floor. "Do... do you hate them now? Humans?"

"I did. I still hate some of them, but there are also humans that I love now. I've found it's a mistake to make blanket judgments like hating all humans. If I hate someone now, I hate them on a personal level."

Lucy nodded slowly. "Can I ask you a favor?"

* * *

"Do you think this is a dream?"

"Hmmm?" Kouta sat up and looked at his cousin.

"Somehow it was easy to accept what was going on in the moment," Yuka continued, "but now that I'm sitting here thinking about it I keep expecting to wake up. I mean, are we really sitting across from a half-demon who's somehow linked his mind to the mind of the horned girl we found on the beach? It's ridiculous."

Kouta took a moment to collect his thoughts, then answered, "I suppose it's possible, but I'm going to act like this is definitely reality. If it is a dream, I won't be any worse off for it, and if it's reality, then I'm making the decisions I want to make.

Yuka sighed. She'd been hoping for validation, not logic.

"How long have we been sitting here anyway? I need to go to the bathroom." She peered disgustedly at what was really just a butt-sized hole in the wall, leading to a small pit dug in the dirt. She decided she'd rather wet herself.

Just then, the red-head girl sat up ramrod straight, eyes wide and breathing heavily. Naruto sat up next to her, stretching and yawning.

"Sorry," he apologized through his yawn, "coming out of a comatose state so rapidly can be stressful if you're not used to it."

"It's alright." she quickly accepted. Immediately she looked down at the floor, refusing to meet the eyes of the two humans.

"This is Lucy." Naruto quickly introduced, patting the girl's shoulder. "She's been through a lot of stress recently, so let's not bug her right now." He stood up. "You can rest here for the moment Lucy. I'm going to get these two back to Kaede House." He turned to face the teens in front of him. "My clone confirmed it's clear. It's safe."

* * *

Kouta sat up out of bed with a yawn. "Darn!" he muttered as he felt the memories of his time dreaming slip away. "I can never remember my dreams!"

Minutes later he was downstairs sipping at some green tea as Lee poked at a large pot of stir-fry. Lee had generously offered to cook for them this morning, and pretty soon Yuka would show up and they could all have breakfast together. Kouta was actually feeling pretty good about the whole situation. Lee seemed like he'd be plenty easy to get along with, and with Yuka here too he might actually have some friends for once.

Yuka's voice rang out as the front door opened. "Kouta! Lee! I'm here!"

"Great!" Lee called back. "Breakfast is almost ready!"

Yuka entered the dining room as Lee set three places at the table. The three sat down and gave a quick "Itadakimasu" before digging in.

"Whoa." Kouta exclaimed upon first taste. "This is really good Lee. Where'd you learn to cook like this?" He stuffed a few more bites into his mouth.

"I lived with my godfather for three years after my parents died." Lee explained. "He would never do any cooking himself, and the old bastard was too cheap for pre-prepared food. I had to either learn to cook for myself or endure the same bland flavors every day."

"Oh!" Yuka exclaimed as she and her cousin suddenly turned sullen.

"You've lost your parents too?" Kouta asked quietly.

"Bah!" Lee dismissed them. "I got over it a long time ago. No sense dwelling on the past." He quickly resumed eating.

Unable to come up with any decent replies, Yuka and Kouta returned to their meals as well. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Lee spoke up.

"Oh, by the way, my cousin will probably show up sometime today, so don't be alarmed if she's here when you get back from school."

"Cousin?" Yuka and Kouta chimed in simultaneously.

"Yeah." Lee confirmed, looking confused. "Her name is on the lease, right next to mine. Didn't either of you notice?"

He got some confused head-shakes in response.

"Well, it's there. Besides, this place is plenty big enough for three people."

* * *

An hour later, Kouta and Yuka were at school. Naruto was back in his safehouse, slowly painting suppression seals onto an outfit for Lucy.

"The memory jutsu worked perfectly. Kouta and Yuka remember their walk ending with nothing unusual going on."

"Thank you." Lucy replied.

"You know," Naruto began, "I don't really think this is the best way to go about an apology. It's better to get it all out in the open all at once. Then again, I'm pretty much a 'rip-off-the-band-aid' guy in everything I do. Maybe there's something to be said for the subtle approach."

Lucy stayed silent.

"Just a tip - if you want to begin righting your wrongs to Kouta, you're going to have to develop your social skills a bit. Even though I know you care a whole lot, your demeanor just screams apathy. Besides, that jaded expression doesn't suit you. I prefer it when pretty girls like you are smiling."

Lucy actually frowned at that. Naruto sighed.

"I can see I've got my work cut for me. Ah well. I've never been one to abandon a kindred soul."


End file.
